1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a technology for preventing an electronic circuit electrically connected to one of a pair of connectors from being erroneously activated due to the flowing of an electric current introduced by an electromagnetic wave propagated from the outside, static electricity or the like when the pair of connectors are disconnected from each other and a plurality of male terminals and a plurality of female terminals are then disengaged from each other.
2. Related art
In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, a female connector housing a includes a female terminal receiving chamber a.sub.2 having an opening portion a.sub.1 to cooperate with a male terminal on the fitting surface side, a short circuit member receiving chamber a.sub.4 having a closure wall a.sub.3 on the fitting surface side, and an electrical insulative member receiving chamber a.sub.6 having an opening portion a.sub.5 for an electrical insulative member on the fitting surface side while making a communication between the short circuit member receiving chamber a.sub.4 and the female terminal receiving chamber a.sub.6 via the electrical insulative member receiving chamber a.sub.6 in side-by-side relationship. A pair of female terminals b are fitted into the female terminal receiving chamber a.sub.2, and a short circuit member c for making a communication between the female terminals b is resiliently received in the short circuit member receiving chamber a.sub.4. A pair of male terminals e are fitted into a male connector housing d which forms a guide hood d.sub.1 for the female connector housing, and a flat plate-shaped electrical insulative member f adapted to be received between the short circuit member c and the male terminals b when the female connector housing a and the male connector housing d are connected to each other. When a female connector and a male connector are disconnected from each other (see FIG. 6), the short circuit member c serves to make a connection between both the female terminals b so as not to allow any differential voltage to appear between adjacent terminals in a connector housing located on the instrument side at the time of inspection. Thus, the instrument can not be erroneously activated.
Each of the female connector housing a and the male connector housing d is equipped with a hitherto known fitting/locking mechanism (not shown) but not equipped with a device or a unit for confirming whether or non they are completely connected to each other. Thus, there appears a problem that it can not be assured that an air bag will operate properly.
FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show another conventional connector which is equipped with a device or a unit for confirming whether or not a female connector housing and a male connector housing are completely connected to each other. The male connector housing a' includes a locking arm g so as to allow a locking projection g.sub.1 on the locking arm g to be engaged with an engagement portion h of a female connector housing d' when the male connector housing a' is connected to a female connector housing d' (see FIG. 8(c)). The male connector housing a' includes a completely locked state detecting short circuit terminal contoured in the form of a resilient tongue pieces i having a pair of locked state confirming pieces i.sub.1 formed at the fore end thereof, while the female connector housing d' includes other state detecting short circuit terminals contoured in the form of stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2. In addition, the female connector housing d' includes tapered guide portions k on the opposite inner walls d.sub.1 ' of the receiving chamber for receiving the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2. When the female connector housing a' and the male connector housing d' are incompletely connected to each other, the short circuit pieces i are parted from the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2 due to the engagement of the locked connection confirming pieces i.sub.1 with the guide piece k, whereby the short circuit pieces i are not electrically connected to the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2 (see FIG. 8(B)). On the other hand, when the female connector housing a' and the male connector housing b' are completely connected to each other, the resilient tongue pieces i are resiliently restored to the original position where they come in contact with the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2 while the locked connection confirming pieces i.sub.1 are disengaged from the guide portions k, whereby a locked connection detecting circuit (not shown) is activated.
In the case of the conventional connector constructed in the above-described manner, however, there arises a malfunction in that a certain time delay unavoidably appears due to the allowable tolerance relating to the fabrication of the resilient tongue pieces i and the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2 until the resilient tongue pieces i are resiliently lowered to come in contact with the stationary contact pieces j.sub.1 and j.sub.2, whereby the state of incomplete connection is undesirably detected due to the foregoing time delay in spite of the fact that the completely connected state is attained.